Author's Note: Wow. I am so sorry guys... thanks for hanging in there. I had no idea it would take a whole freakin' month to fix my computer. Ugh. I apologise to everyone who has been patiently waiting for an update and I thank everyone for the reviews and encourangement in the time I've been gone... my e-mail inbox is still filled! I will be going through them all and also hopefully updating quite soon... that is if anyone is still interested in reading this story, lol. A tout a l'heure!

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Emily actually had the audacity to talk about the stupid school dance that morning, while Casey was worrying about her newborn son in the hospital. She bit her tongue to keep from lashing out at her best-friend during their first period study-hall. It wasn't until about twenty minutes into their one-sided conversation when Emily asked about Casey's "brother."

"They kept him overnight," Casey said sullenly. "He's weak and malnourished."

"Malnourished?" Emily repeated, dark brown eyes nearly as wide as saucers. "Didn't your mother feed him?!"

"She's been doing the best she can!" Casey snapped loudly, earning looks from all the other students around her.

Emily, taken-aback at her best-friend's reaction, apologised quickly. Casey merely nodded, expressionless as she rummaged through her backpack for a book—any book—to read so she wouldn't have to listen to Emily stick her foot in her mouth anymore.

Focusing on her Canadian History textbook, she began to read about Iroquois when she heard Emily talking again.

"Can I borrow your French homework? I couldn't figure out number seven," Emily said, rolling her ballpoint pen in-between her fingers as she looked at Casey.

"I didn't do it," Casey stated flatly, looking back down at her textbook.

Emily gasped. "You what? You didn't do your homework? But…you're Casey MacDonald, you al—"

"I was a little busy, Em," Casey growled, slamming her textbook down on the table. "I was in the hospital because my s—"

"Case!" a voice interrupted her just then, and the two girls looked up to see Derek rushing over to them. He had his cell-phone in his hand. Sam was in tow, looking befuddled. "The hospital just called. Tyler lost another 0.4 kilograms."

Casey immediately burst into tears, feeling all hope fly away from her. Derek quickly pulled her into a hug, rocking her softly as they made a scene in front of the entire packed study-hall.

"Why isn't he getting better?" she sobbed into his shoulder, and Derek looked up to see that everybody was staring at the pair of them. Helping her up from her chair, he wordlessly took her out of the study-hall and into the empty school corridor.

"They're going to run some tests today and to find out," he told her gently, his face slightly contorted as he tried to hold back his own pain. He had to stay strong for Casey.

"I wanna go see him now," she sniffled into his shirt and he nodded, feeling the same way.

"Let's get outta here then," he pulled back and gave her a light smile.

She wiped her cheeks and her nose, silently following him, her mind clouded and spirit broken. Emily and Sam were left behind, dumfounded as their best-friends left without even a glance at them.

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Derek managed to sneak them out of school, being the pro that he was, and got them a cab to the hospital. Once there, the two of them strode up to the front service desk with determination.

"Hi," Derek said to the woman at the desk, not waiting for a response before continuing. "My son is an in-patient here and I'd like to know what floor he's on."

"Name?" the woman asked, unimpressed.

"His name's Tyler MacDonald-Venturi," Casey replied, wringing her fingers impatiently as the woman typed it in.

"Eighth floor, up in Nursery B," the woman finally responded.

"Thank you," the two teens said, and took off for the elevator.

"Why isn't the food fattening him up?" Casey asked aloud as she and Derek waited for one of the elevators to arrive.

"We'll find out," Derek told her, punching in the "up" button again with irritation. "These damn things are so slow," he remarked under his breath in frustration, glaring at the elevator door.

Derek demanded to speak to a doctor as soon as they got to the infant infirmary.

"Tyler's physician is busy at this moment—" the nurse at the desk began.

"I don't care!" Derek looked outraged, his eyes so wild that Casey instinctively slid her hand into his. Feeling this, he paused, feeling a gentle rush of calm flood his body. Taking a deep breath and then exhaling, Derek now more calmly asked the nurse when the doctor would be free.

"I'll page you when he's finished with his patient," the nurse promised. "You two can go have a seat over there." She jerked her head to a row of seats nearby, none occupied.

"Can we see Tyler?" Casey implored, looking hopefully at the woman.

"I think it's best you wait for Dr. Zimmer," the woman said with a regretful look.

Casey's face fell, and before she could dispute this, Derek was squeezing her hand, steering her away, towards the chairs.

"Derek, I want to see him!" Casey insisted as they moved.

"Maybe she's right; we need the doctor there so he can explain what's going on," Derek said quietly. He was afraid that Tyler was even worse-looking than they had seen him when they left him yesterday. He didn't think he—or Casey—could handle that, and it would be best that Dr. Zimmer was there to reassure them that their son was going to be alright.

Casey reluctantly sat down in one of the chairs after this, knowing that Derek was right. She gripped the arms of the chair nervously as she stared up at the TV screen on the wall. Some Soap Opera was on, the volume soft so she could barely hear what the couple on screen were fighting about, but Casey stared at the screen anyway. She wasn't really watching; she was simply just zoning out. She heard Derek get up and grab a magazine from a table in the corner of the room. He jiggled his foot apprehensively as he tried to read an article about one of his favourite hockey players.

It felt like hours before the nurse called over to him that Dr. Zimmer was on his way. Derek quickly put the magazine away and Casey sat up a little straighter in her chair. As soon as the doctor was in their view, the two of them bolted up and rushed over to him.

"Mr. Venturi, Ms. MacDonald," the doctor formally nodded in greetings.

Derek ignored the pleasantries. "What's going on with our son?" he almost demanded bluntly.

If Casey wasn't desperately wondering the same thing, she would have shot Derek a dirty look for being so rude.

But Dr. Zimmer knew that the two teenagers were anxious, and didn't even flinch at Derek's impoliteness. "Well…" he began, letting out a huff of breath that ruffled his thick moustache. "Quite frankly, Tyler isn't doing as well as we had hoped."

"W-why?" Casey felt her face draining of colour.

"The IV is giving him nutrients that he hasn't been getting, but he can't hold any of it. His stomach is very weak. He's losing weight rapidly. We've run some tests and found that he has a severe form of gastroenteritis caused by a Giardia infection. The reflux problem he has been having caused an excess amount of acid in his stomach and activated a series of cysts along his digestive track," the doctor explained.

"What does that mean?" Derek snapped. He wanted it in English, not doctor-babble. "Is he going to be okay?"

"Usually, this infection is curable with high doses of a mild drug," Dr. Zimmer continued.

"Usually?" Casey asked softly, not liking the way he had used the word.

The doctor frowned. "Tyler is extremely weak at this point. Even with treatment, we can't really determine the outcome at this point."

Derek felt his mouth go dry. He knew what the doctor was getting at.

Casey, on the other hand, felt the room begin to spin around her. "The outcome?" she asked, the word catching in her throat.

"I'm sorry to tell you this," the doctor said as gently as he could, "but you need to be prepared for the possibility."

Derek felt his heart stop in his chest.

"It could be fatal."

And down Casey fell, leaving Derek to catch her at the last millisecond as she fainted without a sound.